Environmental Laboratory

RAU

On the university campus of the Uithof in Utrecht, RAU is commissioned to design a new architectural but above all sustainable highlight among the present showcases. The Uithof has grown to be an international knowledge centre, a large scale complex with a university, hospital and housing. Three different institutes will be housed into one new shared Environmental Laboratory. A central transparent meeting space in front will connect and open up to the existing TNO research facility, the new shared laboratory and a yet to be built faculty of Geo-research. The laboratory itself is designed in a very compact and flexible way: with a highly efficient floor plan, structured according to standard measurements of lab inventory. To reduce building mass, the infrastructure of technical services runs outside of the building, along the fašade. On the roof of the lab 3 large condens cooling towers provide the building with fresh air - fed by rest-warmth generated elsewhere on the campus.